Promise Me
by InYourBrownEyes
Summary: Santana and Brittany meet in a mental hospital and instantly form a connection. They grow closer as they share with each other why they are there. Brittana fic but there's also a tiny bit of Faberry.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi everyone, this is my first story that I've started writing. I actually wrote the first chapter about a week and a half ago but I've been too nervous to actually post it. So with that said I hope y'all like it and it's not too bad. I realize some parts of it are probably unrealistic, but it's a story so it's not going to be totally accurate.**

**I'm going to try to make each chapter around the same length, to keep a consistency. I already have a general plan for the whole story, so hopefully I can stick with it and keep writing more chapters. I'm currently enjoying my summer break from college so I have a lot of time to write, until I can find a job. ****Also, please review, if you want to. Some constructive criticism or any comments at all would be nice so I can know what to work on. Like if it's too boring or moving too fast etc.**

**Sorry for the long author's note and once again, I hope y'all like it!**

* * *

Santana was sitting on the most uncomfortable couch she had ever sat on while she watched the lame movie play overhead on the TV. _What a way to spend a Saturday night_. She shifted in her seat trying to get comfortable which was near impossible. The couches had "cushions" that had a hard exterior and had very little cushion to them. She assumed the hospital couldn't have nice couches because these were easier to clean.

She glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed, they still had twenty minutes until they were allowed to go to sleep. Nighttime was her favorite because it meant she could go to sleep and another day spent in this hell hole was over with.

"Oh guys this is my favorite part!" a brunette girl said and proceeded to sing along to the musical playing.

Santana groaned. "Shut up dwarf, no one wants to hear you sing, especially at this hour."

The girl dropped her head and sat back where she was sitting, not wanting to continue the confrontation. Santana heard the blonde near her whisper, "Why don't you just let her enjoy it? At least she can find something good in this miserable stinking place."

"Whatever Fabray, why don't _you _go sit next to her since you seem to like her so much." The blonde just rolled her eyes at Santana's attitude. Soon they hear the double doors with no windows at the end of the hall open and see two medics pushing a stretcher in with a blonde girl strapped in. Even with the girl lying down, Santana could tell she was tall.

The tech got up from his chair which was stationed behind all the patients in the common room and walked over to the new patient. She heard one of the medics introduce the girl as Brittany.

"Hi Brittany, you're here at Lima's psychiatric hospital on the adolescent floor," the tech said as the medics helped the girl off the stretcher.

"Come sit down in this chair so I can take your vitals." He guided the blonde over to the chair against the wall facing everyone. Santana took in the girl's appearance. She had long beautiful blonde hair that looked silky soft and she could see even from across the room that the girl had piercing blue eyes. Even though she seemed stressed out, Santana thought she was such a beautiful girl.

Santana felt sorry for the girl though, which was out of character for her. She had never actually seen a patient brought in before, they always had just appeared either overnight or sometime during the day. Now it was a show as most of everyone was staring at the newcomer as she looked around and bobbed her leg up and down.

"Alright Brittany, go find a spot to sit and watch the movie," He had now finished taking her vital signs. Santana watched the blonde cross the room and take a seat next to her. The brunette looked over and saw the other girl's leg shaking as she rested her forehead against her open palm staring at the floor, not paying any attention to the movie. She had a strange urge to reach out to her and offer her hand to help calm the girl down but why would she do that? She didn't even know this girl.

After a few minutes a female nurse opened the door to the nurse's station and called Brittany over. She went into the station and sat down at a small table where Santana knew the nurse would ask her general questions such as what the date was, who she liked to talk to, what helped her relax, etc. She was used to the procedure by now.

"Whew, that new girl is hot!" a dark haired boy with a mohawk announced to the room.

"Shut it Puckerman, you think every girl is hot." Santana rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, so what? Got a problem with it?" Puck challenged her.

Before she could answer the tech cut her off. "Everybody be quiet and watch the movie." Santana huffed and tried to focus on the movie to pass the time. The door caught her eye though as it opened and she watched the blonde return to her seat, leg still shaking as she glanced at the TV every now and then.

"I don't even know why I'm here!"

Santana was surprised by the blonde's loud voice as she flinched but the outburst was ignored by everyone else. Even though the blonde had shouted in a tense voice, Santana thought her voice was just as pretty as the rest of the girl.

The Latina looked through the windows of the nurse's station and saw an older blonde woman resembling Brittany walk through and start to exit on the _other _side of the station. Apparently Brittany had noticed this too as Santana watched the blonde jump up and run to the double doors she had come through.

"Mom, please don't leave me here!" It broke Santana's heart as the blonde pushed against the locked doors trying to get them to open. Even worse was that most of the patients except for Santana laughed that Brittany thought it would be that easy to get out.

"Brittany, come back and sit down," the tech called over to her. Surprisingly, the blonde came back to her seat and let out a deep sigh, her leg still bobbing up and down. Santana watched her out of the corner of her eye; she had never seen someone so anxious before. She figured she would be too though, if she had never been here and didn't know why she was there. The brunette was used to these places by now though, having been in and out of them since she was fourteen years old.

Santana saw the nurse open the door again and called Brittany over. The nurse offered the blonde a pill, which she refused to take and came to sit back down. Santana knew the pill was something to calm the blonde and knew what would happen if she didn't take it, so she leaned over and whispered, "I would take the pill if I were you. If you don't, you have to get a shot."

She noticed Brittany jump at her voice as she peered over at her with crystal blue eyes. "No, I know they're trying to drug me. I know they're all a part of the FBI and they're trying to put me in jail for something."

Santana frowned at hearing this and shifted her gaze back to the television. _That explained why she was here_.

"Alright everyone, it's time to go to sleep. Except for Kurt and Mercedes, you guys can stay up for thirty more minutes since you're on level B," the tech announced to everyone. Santana thought the reward system was stupid, everyone started out on level C and in order to move up you had to fill out worksheets and get involved in activities. If that meant you get an extra half hour to stay up at night, she would have to pass. She loved going to sleep and another thirty minutes of being awake would be torture.

"Come on Brittany, I'll show you where your room is," the tech called out to the blonde. Everyone paused to see where Brittany would be staying but Santana continued on her way to her room, minding her own business.

The tech gestured to the room across from the Latina's. "Okay, thanks," Brittany said in a meek voice.

"Ohh, blondie gets the _special _room!" the same boy who had made a comment about the girl earlier yells out. Santana rolled her eyes, the only reason the room was "special" was because it had one bed as the other rooms had two beds.

"Noah, be quiet and go to your room. Lights out everyone!" the tech called out.

The Latina walked into her room and over to the pitiful excuse for a bed and laid down on it, thankful she had already changed into her pajamas. She pulled the flimsy blanket over her and looked into the room across from her, seeing the blonde girl pace around the room. She wanted to comfort the girl and tell her that it would all be okay, a girl like her would probably be out of this place in no time. As this thought passed through her mind, she frowned. She usually didn't care about the other patients in these places; she always just kept to herself. Quinn was the first person that she really made a connection with in all the times she had stayed in the different hospitals.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a female nurse carrying a gown enter Brittany's room and close the door behind her. She figured the girl would freak out again, knowing that the nurse would make her fully undress to put the stupid gown on but she didn't hear anything. Santana closed her eyes trying to fall asleep when she heard a lot of footsteps in the hall. She opened her eyes and another female nurse with a syringe in her hand entered the room. She was followed by a group of techs dressed in dark blue scrubs to hold the blonde down and closed the door behind them. She knew what was coming next and heard the girl yell out with fear evident in her voice, "No, please don't!"

"It's okay Brittany, just hold still," she heard an older woman's gentle voice say. It went quiet and not long after the team of people left the room with the door left open. She looked into the room and Brittany was lying on her stomach with her head turned away from her. She expected the blonde to put up more of a fight than that, but she was apparently wrong. Santana let out a soft exhale and rolled over on her side. She closed her eyes and drifted into sleep, thinking of the beautiful blonde hair and crystal blue eyes that belonged to the girl across the hall from her.

* * *

Santana jumped as she was awoken by the tech banging on the doors down the hall. "Good morning, it's time to get up!"

The woman repeated the phrase to every room until she got to the end of the hall where Santana's room was and also the new girl Brittany's. The brunette groaned as she sat up and moved her legs to dangle off the side of her bed. She still didn't quite understand why they made them get up so early; she guessed it was their way of keeping them on a schedule every day. At least it wasn't as early as she had to get up for school at home.

She eased out of bed and grabbed some socks out of her dresser, slipping them on her feet. Santana hated walking barefoot on the cold hospital tiled floor. She then went over and pulled on her zip up hoodie, it always comforted her and made her feel safer. She shuffled over to the door to exit the room and saw the blonde was looking down doing the same thing. The hospital gowns flattered no one but Brittany looked just as beautiful as before. The gown was light blue and came down a little past her knee; it wasn't like those skimpy hospital gowns you see on TV, it was more like a weird looking nightgown. When they both reached the doorway of their separate rooms Brittany looked up and caught the brunette's eyes. Santana's first instinct was to look away but something held her gaze as she stared deep into the soft blue eyes.

Their eye contact was broken as a short girl with brown hair came down the hall walking with a purpose.

"Hi there, you must be Brittany. I'm Rachel Berry, singer extraordinaire!" She held out her hand for the blonde to shake.

Santana eyed the short girl and noticed she was already dressed in her outfit for the day. She rolled her eyes, only Rachel would have so much energy this early in the morning and already be dressed.

"Um yeah, that's me," Santana heard Brittany's soft voice say. She walked into the common room and got in line for her vital signs to be taken by the tech.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you Brittany. I'm sure we will be great friends! I would love to chat but you need to go get your vitals done, you don't get breakfast until you do." Rachel skipped into the common area, took a seat next to Quinn on the couch and talked about something she was obviously excited about.

Santana knew the blonde was behind her and felt her eyes on her. She tensed knowing that the other girl was staring at her. She chanced a look behind her and caught the girl staring. She then saw Brittany look down in guilt and noticed her cheeks flush bright red on pale skin. Santana smirked at the other girl's reaction and stepped forward as she was next in line. When the tech was done she got up and joined the others already sitting on the couches. Brittany sat in the chair as the tech put a cuff around the girl's upper arm, taking her blood pressure. She noticed the blonde girl was _a lot _calmer than she was last night.

The room was pretty quiet except for the low murmur from the TV and of course Rachel rambling about who knows what. Santana didn't know how Quinn put up with that girl all this time. Soon they hear the double doors to left of the common room down the hall open and a lady in white scrubs pushes a tall cart that Santana knew held the trays of all of their breakfasts. Everyone got up and followed the lady down a short hallway to the right of the common area. She parked the cart in front of the room where they ate their meals, held school time, and had group activities. They all waited as the tech finished taking Brittany's vitals and walked over to the cart and called out the name of the person each tray belonged to.

"Santana."

She walked towards him, seeing out of the corner of her eye that Brittany had looked up at the motion of the Latina. She took her tray and entered the medium sized room and took a seat at the table. The large table was made up of three long rectangular plastic tables put together horizontally to make a large surfaced area rectangle.

Everyone is seated around the table with their breakfast now except for Brittany. She made her way into the room and took the only seat left, which was next to Santana. The girl set the carton of milk off her tray, pushed it away and kept her head down, while she ate her food.

"So new girl, why are you here?" the mohawked boy asked while shoveling food into his mouth. Everyone looked up at the girl, curious as to what her answer would be.

"I uh, I…"

"Puck leave her alone, it's her first day," Mercedes said coming to Brittany's defense. An appreciative smile graced the blonde's face and Santana felt a warmth inside her at the girl's simple smile.

"What? It was just a question I'm sure everyone else was wondering, I'm just the one who had the nerve to ask." A smug look appeared on his face. Santana gave the boy a dark glare from across the table.

"Noah, mind your own business and eat your food," one of the techs said while he walked in the room and took a seat in the corner to watch over the teenagers. Everyone was pretty quiet as they eat their breakfast, even Rachel as she filled out her menu for the next day.

"Santana, you seem to be almost finished with your food, why don't you show Miss Brittany how to fill out her menu for tomorrow," the tech said.

"Okay, sure." Santana scooted over a little to get closer to the girl, at which the blonde seemed to tense up as she did so. She picked up the pamphlet that came with Brittany's tray and opens it up, laying it down on the table.

"Well, basically you just circle the things listed that you want to eat for each meal tomorrow, here you can borrow my pencil," Santana handed over one of the tiny pencils that the tech provided.

"Thanks," Brittany said a little above a whisper and took the pencil, her fingers brushed against the brunette's and Santana feels a slight tingle which the blonde must have felt too as she yanked her hand back.

Santana wished the girl hadn't pulled her hand away so fast but she brushes it off as she watches the blonde start filling out her menu. Brittany looked disinterested as she seemed to circle random things on the paper. Santana didn't blame her though; the food like everything else in this place is not that great.

Most of everyone has finished their breakfast by now and is back in either their own room or in the common area. Santana took small bites of her food and looked over to see Brittany pushing the soggy eggs around on her plate with an unopened milk carton sitting to the side.

"Do you not like milk?" Santana asked.

"Yes, I hate it actually," Brittany scrunched her face up at the thought.

"Here you can have my apple juice, I always order something extra to drink." Santana gently slid the juice carton over to the blonde.

Brittany looked at the carton and then picked it up examining it. The blonde then gave her a wary look.

"You swear you're not a member of the FBI paid to spy on me?" Brittany asked in complete seriousness.

Santana had to cover her mouth with her hand as she tried to stifle a laugh. "Yes, I swear. No one here is in the FBI."

The blonde still seemed unsure so she held up her pinky finger and asked, "You pinky promise?"

She can't help but smile at this; she hadn't heard that saying in ages. She then linked their pinkies and said, "Yes, I pinky promise."

Brittany studied the brunette for a second longer but seemed satisfied when she let go of the other girl's pinky and smiled at her for the first time. Santana smiled back at the girl, loving the adorable look on the blonde.

The tech looked up from his crossword puzzle that he was working on. "Oh Santana, I forgot to tell you that they assigned you to be Brittany's mentor today, since it's her first day and all. Will that be a problem?"

Santana looked over to the blonde who was sipping on her apple juice and smiled. "No… no, that won't be a problem at all."


	2. Chapter 2

"You're my mentor? What does that mean?" Brittany asked, a confused look on her face.

"Oh, well it just means that I'm going to show you around and help you with things today. Everyone gets a mentor their first day."

"Oh, okay. I'd like that." Brittany shot a small smile towards the brunette. Santana smiled back and after a small moment of silence she noticed Brittany was finished eating her breakfast.

"Come on, I'll give you a tour of the place. It won't take very long since it's so small." Santana got up from her seat and returned the tray back to the cart. She stood by the doorway as Brittany got up and copied Santana's action of returning her tray.

"I'm Santana by the way." She held out her hand to the blonde.

The taller girl shook her hand. "I'm Brittany."

Brittany's soft and smooth hands combined with her firm grip made for a perfect handshake and Santana didn't want to let go. She had to though and missed the contact as soon as she dropped it.

"Well it's nice to meet you Brittany, even if it is in this place." Santana motioned around her when she mentioned where they were.

Brittany smiled. "It's very nice to meet you too Santana."

Santana returned a smile to the blonde and they walked down the short hallway back towards the common room in silence. She had a strange urge to reach out and take the soft hand in hers again and hold it while walking down the hall. Where did _that_ come from? She had literally just met this girl. She shook her head at the intruding thought to clear it out.

"Okay, well this is the common area where everyone can hang out. There's obviously a TV where there's usually some boring show to watch or whatever and then over there is the game table where you can play card games or checkers or something." Santana pointed over to the table where Finn, Sam, and Puck sat playing spades.

Brittany just nodded her head and Santana continued to explain the place to her. "Behind the TV through those windows is the nurse's station, which you probably already figured. Most of the staff hangs out in there except for the techs because, you know, they're too busy watching over us. Oh and around the corner there's an open window to the nurse's station where you can take calls from family and friends or whoever."

Brittany's face lit up at the mention of family and friends. "Are they allowed to come visit us?"

Santana nodded. "Yeah, visiting hours are in the late afternoon." At this thought she could feel a hint of sadness creep up on her, no one had come to see her not once since she had been in the hospital this time.

She was happy for a distraction as Brittany said, "Oh okay, great. I hope my mom comes today so she can tell me why I'm here or better yet take me home."

The brunette bit her lip; she knew Brittany wouldn't be leaving today. Almost every patient spent _at least _five days in the hospital, most of them longer, like Santana. She couldn't break it to the girl though; she would let the doctor or someone else do that job.

"Right, well on with the tour." Santana walked to the edge of the open room and took a left down another short hallway. After a couple of steps they stood in front of both of their rooms. "This is of course your room." Santana gestured to the room to the left of her.

"Where's your room?"

"Oh, it's just right there." Santana pointed across the hall.

"Hmm, how convenient." Brittany smiled and winked at her.

Santana looked down with a heat spreading across her cheeks. What was this girl doing to her? Santana Lopez _never_ blushed or got embarrassed. "So, um…yeah," Santana mumbled and pointed ahead of her indicating that's where their next destination was and walked down the hall.

It wasn't but another couple of steps before she reached the end of the hall and stood outside a small room that had some chairs in it facing the large window that looked out over the city. Kurt and Mercedes sat in there talking away, probably about fashion or something. She turned around to see if Brittany was coming when she caught blue eyes roaming over her body. Santana smirked. Even though you couldn't tell a lot about her body since she was wearing loose sweatpants and a hoodie, she was still flattered nonetheless.

Brittany blushed when she was caught and avoided the brunette's eyes. "So what's this room for?"

"This is the music room; we get to go in there and just chill. They have speakers in there where they play stuff from the radio, that's why it's called the music room. Although sometimes they forget to turn on the radio I guess, and it's just quiet in there." This was actually one of her favorite places on the floor. She loved to sit in there and look out over the city, just getting lost in her thoughts.

Brittany nodded. "What's down there?"

Santana looked behind her where Brittany was pointing; it was just the rest of the hallway that led to the locked double doors. "Oh, well it's just more bedrooms on the left and then of course you can see it opens up to the common area in the middle on the right. At the very end on the right, near the double doors is where you get phone calls at the nurse's station."

Brittany just nodded her head once again. "Well, I guess that's all of it. I told you it was small."

"What about your room?" Brittany asked.

"What about it?" the brunette asked confused with her brows furrowed.

"Can I see it?"

"Uh…um, sure. I mean there's not much to it, it's pretty boring," Santana said stumbling around on her words at first but quickly recovering. Why was she so nervous about Brittany seeing her room? It wasn't like it was her _personal_ room at home; it was a damn hospital room with no personality at all.

"That's okay," Brittany said in a chipper tone and walked back towards Santana's room, taking the liberty of just walking right in, not waiting for the other girl.

* * *

Brittany walked in the room taking everything in. The room was bland, just like the rest of the hospital. There was not much color, the walls were tan, the sheets on the bed were white, and the bed frame and dresser were wooden. There were two twin beds in the room that looked just like hers in her own hospital room. Each bed also had a short dresser by them. The dresser near the bed that was unmade, which she guessed was Santana's, had a couple of books on it and some papers strewn about. She eased over to the dresser and turned some papers over that were face down. On the papers were pencil drawings of different scenes or landscapes, they were all really good, and she was amazed at this girl's talent. She turned over some more and saw rough sketches of the more polished ones.

"So you're an artist?" Brittany asked as she turned around to face the brunette who was sitting on her bed watching Brittany.

Santana shrugged. "I guess so. I don't know, I just like to draw. It helps pass the time and according to my therapist it's a good 'creative outlet'." Santana emphasized the last two words with air quotes.

Brittany laughed as she heard the therapy mumbo jumbo. "Yeah, my therapist said the same thing about me and dancing. I love it; it helps clear my head."

"Dancing, huh? I'd like to see that sometime, it's only fair since you saw my drawings." Santana pointed to the papers.

"Well I'd love to show you, but I don't think I'll be here for very long." There was a change in the Latina's face as Santana looked down and focused on her hands. Brittany could tell something was going on with the other girl so she distracted her and asked, "So do you just draw or do you paint also?"

Santana looked back up. "Yeah, I do some painting too. Not much here because we only have arts and crafts three times a week and that's where the paint is." There was a small pause. "Do you want me to show you some of my paintings?"

Brittany was surprised that the girl would offer and was excited to see more of Santana's talent. She nodded, remembering the brunette had asked her a question. "Yeah, that'd be awesome!"

Santana got up and walked over to the dresser and Brittany moved out of the way as the other girl bent down and opened a drawer. "I keep them in here because I don't really like a lot of people seeing my stuff." Santana took the paintings out and laid them down on the dresser, on top of the other drawings.

"Why? Your art is amazing Santana. Anyone would be lucky to be able to see it, I know _I _feel that way." Brittany looked over all the different images, moving them as if she would ruin them if she wasn't too careful.

The brunette's cheeks turned slightly pink. "Thanks, but I don't know. I guess I just like to keep some things private."

Brittany nodded, she could understand that. She continued to spread out all the different paintings and paused when she saw a drawing at the bottom. It was a portrait of a girl drawn in pencil and it was so beautiful that it almost took her breath away. "Wow, this one's really great. Who is that by the way?" Brittany pointed to the drawing.

Santana peered over her shoulder to get a better look. When she did, Brittany's heart quickened in its pace as a wonderful vanilla scent came from Santana. "Oh, that's Quinn. You'll probably meet her soon. We were bored one day and she asked me to draw her after she saw my artwork."

As Brittany heard this she felt a pang of jealousy. _She _wanted to be the one Santana was drawing. Wait, why was she feeling this way? She had just met this girl and barely knew her. She ignored the feeling and said, "Oh okay, well it's a beautiful picture."

"Thanks," Santana said in a soft voice as she looked deep into her own blue eyes.

Brittany felt mesmerized as she gazed into the other girl's dark brown eyes. They were so naturally dark, you almost couldn't tell the difference between her pupil and iris but she looked deeper and could see a beautiful chocolate color surrounding the pupil. The caramel swirl in Santana's eyes made her insides tingle and made her heart beat faster again. She could get stuck in those eyes like quick sand but right now was definitely not the time, so she broke the intense eye contact and looked down. When she did, she noticed that she was still wearing the hideous hospital gown that the nurse made her put on last night.

"Um, I'm going to change out of this awful gown. That is if they didn't take my clothes or something." She rolled her eyes at the last part.

Santana chuckled. "Yeah, I should probably change too. Do you want to meet up in the common room when you're done?"

"Yeah, that'd be great." Brittany smiled at the girl which Santana returned right back. She then turned around to walk across the hall to her room. Once inside she closed the door and found there was no lock. "Of course there's no lock," she muttered. Oh well, she figured someone would knock first. Brittany found her clothes lying on the dresser and sighed. She didn't want to put the clothes she was wearing yesterday back on again, but it was either that or this ridiculous gown. She of course opted for her own clothes.

She also didn't want Santana to see her in that gown for a second longer. She thought about the brunette who looked good even just wearing baggy pajamas. With the girl's long flowing dark hair, full lips, and naturally tanned skin, she bet Santana looked good in everything. Her thoughts turned dirty as she thought about _everything _Santana could be wearing, or more like _not _wearing. She blushed at the images flowing through her brain.

She didn't understand this. Yes, she had had crushes on some girls before, so it didn't freak her out but she had never felt something so strong and so….quickly. Not only was the girl beautiful like a goddess but she was also talented. She really just wanted to get to know the girl better too and find out her life story and what she was doing here.

Brittany pulled off the gown and grabbed her bra off the dresser. Something felt different about it though, she looked at it closely and a small hole caught her eye. _Oh my God_, _she couldn't believe what she was seeing._ The nurse had taken the damn underwire out of her bra. _This was just great, now her boobs were going to look weird because her bra is messed up_. _Oh well, it was better than nothing,_ she thought as she slipped it on.

She then put on her light pink top and jeans she had worn yesterday. She spotted some hospital socks that the nurse had left with her and slipped those on too. They surprised her as she found they were pretty comfy and had rubber grippers on the bottom so her feet wouldn't slide on the tile.

She went into the bathroom and looked into the small mirror to make sure her hair looked okay and everything else. After a few minutes she stopped. _What was she doing?_ _She was in a mental hospital of all places and she was trying to make sure she looked good. Why? Oh yeah, there was a beautiful brunette probably waiting for her down the hall, that was why._

* * *

Santana stood in front of her dresser trying to decide what to wear. She was glad now that she had grabbed some good clothes before her mom took her to the hospital. She dug around in her drawers looking for something good to impress the blonde beauty across the hall. She decided on the black top that covered her chest appropriately but still accentuated them and would wear some jean shorts that were just a tad bit too short. Of course she would also wear her faithful hoodie and some flip flops she had, because once again, she was _not_ going barefoot on the hospital floor.

About to lift her shirt over head with her fingers at the hem of her shirt, Santana paused and remembered her door was still open. She walked over and shut the door knowing that Puck or any of the other guys wouldn't miss the chance to creep on her as she changed clothes. She changed into the fresh clothes and put her flip flops on and then walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth, touch up her hair and whatever else. Once she was satisfied, she walked out of her room and down the hall to the common room where she heard a whistle ring throughout the room.

"Damn Santana, you lookin' fine!" Puck shouted.

"Noah, language," the tech mumbled warning the boy without looking up from his crossword puzzle.

Santana made sure that the tech was still looking down when she raised her hand in the air, flipping Puck off.

"Right back at ya babe," Puck winked at her.

The Latina rolled her eyes and took a seat on one of the couches near Rachel and Quinn, who were sitting with little space between them on their own couch. She looked over to her right and noticed Tina curled up on a couch engrossed in a book.

"You know Santana, you're not going to move up to level B if you act like that," Rachel said.

"Does it look like I care man hands?" Santana shot the girl a challenging look.

"I'm just saying that if you hate it here and want to go home so bad, it would help you immensely to move up in the reward system. Also as President of Lima's Psychiatric Adolescent floor, I do not condone that kind of behavior and I might just have to bring it up in the next meeting." Rachel crossed her legs, folding her hands on top of them like she was the president of the United States.

Santana rolled her eyes once again, Rachel didn't understand. It wasn't that simple for her to be able to go home and yes, the floor's counselor would hold elections for the patients to run for President, Vice President, and Secretary. She thought it was a dumb idea and was not going to become a part of it. "Whatever Berry," she mumbled, staring into space with a cold expression.

Quinn cleared her throat. "So we heard your Brittany's mentor today, how's that going so far?"

The Latina's facial expression lightened at the mention of the blonde's name and replied, "It's good, she's really nice and all."

"She seems a lot calmer today," Quinn said as Rachel nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, she should be coming out here soon. She wanted to change out of her hospital gown first," Santana looked behind her to see if Brittany was walking down the hall yet, wishing she would magically appear.

"Ugh, those things are awful. I hate them." Rachel once again nodded her head in agreement.

They fell into some easy conversation and a couple of minutes later Brittany appeared and took a seat next to Santana. "Hi," Brittany said in a shy voice to the Latina.

Santana smiled. "Hi." She once again looked into those beautiful baby blues, she couldn't help it, they were so addicting.

She broke out of her trance when she heard Rachel clear her throat deliberately. "Oh, guys this is Brittany and Brittany, this is Quinn and man hands and that over there is Tina."

Brittany smiled and waved to everyone. "Hi, it's nice to meet all of you."

"Actually Brittany, my name is Rachel, _not_ man hands. I do believe we already met earlier this morning though." Rachel shot Santana a glare.

"Oh, yes I remember now." Brittany said snapped her fingers and remembered the energetic girl this morning introducing herself.

"Hey Lopez, are you going to introduce us or what?" Puck called out to the girl from the card table.

Santana sighed at hearing the voice as she knew who it belonged to. "Ah yes, here we have the three bumbling idiots: Puck, Finn, and Sam." She gestured behind her to where they were sitting.

Brittany laughed at the term Santana used for the three boys but turned around and politely waved. "Hey." The boys smiled at the girl and waved back and then returned to their card game.

The blonde turned back around and said in hushed tone, "So from girl to girl, did you all get your underwire taken out from your bras too?"

The girls leaned in to hear what Brittany had to say and once they heard they all started to laugh. Quinn recovered first. "Yeah, don't worry about it. It's just some safety procedure they have to do to make sure no one can hurt themselves in any way."

Santana dropped her head at hearing those words and without even thinking about it, tugged the sleeves of her jacket even though they were already down.

"Oh okay. It just feels really weird, I guess," Brittany said as she looked down at her breasts.

Santana looked at the blonde's subject of conversation, it was okay right? I mean she _was _talking about them…right? She faintly heard Tina ask Brittany a question and saw the blonde turn her head towards Tina. She took the opportunity to really look at them. Perfect, even with a "messed up" bra, they looked perfect. She was in a trance. All she wanted to do was just -

"Santana?...Santana?" the brunette snapped out of her daze when she heard Brittany's unsure voice repeat her name and at the same time felt a smack on her arm from Quinn.

"Are you okay?" Brittany asked with a worried expression on her face.

Santana blushed more than ever. "Uh - yeah, yeah…I just kind of zoned out there for a little while." She looked over to Quinn and Rachel who had knowing looks on their faces with matching smirks. She chanced a short look towards Brittany and blushed even more when they made eye contact and she had to look down to her lap.

Brittany smiled. "Oh, okay then. Don't worry, I zone out all the time too."

The Latina let out a small sigh of relief. Maybe she hadn't really been caught by Brittany after all.


	3. Chapter 3

The girls sat around and talked casually for another twenty minutes or so. Even Tina put down her book to join the conversation. Rachel talked about her favorite musicals and which ones she had seen and which ones she planned to see once she got out of the hospital. Santana could care less and let her mind drift off to other things. She thought about the blonde girl sitting next to her and turned her head to sneak a peek at her. Brittany was just sitting there watching Quinn, Rachel, and Tina talk on and on. She guessed Brittany wasn't very interested in the topic either.

Something caught Santana's eye as she scanned over the blonde's features. There was a small hole in the girl's jeans on her upper thigh near her hip that had a white fringe of fabric around the edge of it. It showed just enough skin for her to instinctively wet her lips. She wanted to see the rest of the long legs without the jeans covering them. She had to force herself to stop looking at it; she was sure Brittany would catch her blatant staring soon. So she turned her head away and tried to focus on what Rachel was going on about now.

Santana then saw the red head counselor, Ms. Pillsbury, walk in from the nurse's station and muttered under her breath, "Thank God." Not that she really wanted to go to group therapy that bad but she was tired of hearing Berry's endless rambling.

"Hey girls," Ms. Pillsbury said to the group of them sitting around and then added, "and guys." She waved across the room to the boys.

They returned the greeting and she said, "Well are you all ready?" They all mumbled yeses and yeahs as they got up except for Rachel who sprang up from her seat and said in a chipper voice, "Yep!"

"I'll go get the others." The tech walked down the hall towards the music room.

As Santana got up from her seat she felt a soft hand on her arm. Brittany had reached up from her seat to get her attention. Her hand was so soft and warm on her arm and it made the skin under it tingle. Brittany retracted her hand and Santana missed the warm feeling.

"Wait, where are we going?" The blonde looked around at everyone following the counselor down the hall.

"We have to go to group therapy, it's in the room where we ate breakfast." Santana pointed down the hall to the room. She saw Brittany bite her lip as her leg shook a little. She could tell she seemed a little nervous at the thought.

"It's okay, she won't make you talk a lot your first day," Santana said, trying to make Brittany feel better. She could see she was still worried by the look in her blue eyes. "Come on, it'll be fine. I promise." She held out her pinky to the blonde.

"'Kay." Brittany nodded and linked her pinky with Santana's.

Brittany got up from her seat and the both of them walked to the room with their pinkies still linked. Little did they know that Kurt and Mercedes were walking behind them and saw the joined fingers. They exchanged surprised looks to each other with wide eyes. The Santana Lopez they knew would never show this kind of affection to anyone, let alone a girl who had been there not even a whole day.

Santana let go of the pinky as she and Brittany were about to enter the room. She still had a reputation to keep up. They walked in and saw that there were no open seats right next to each other. Santana let Brittany have the one near the door as she walked around the table to a seat across from her and that was next to Quinn, who was of course sitting next to Rachel. She watched as Kurt and Mercedes walked in with weird smirks on their faces and wondered to herself what that was all about.

After they had taken their seats Ms. Pillsbury said, "Okay, well it seems that we're all here now, so I guess we'll begin." Brittany's eyes shifted around the room, looking at all the different patients.

"Today we're going to try something different since I see a few new faces here." The counselor paused to get something out of her canvas bag. She placed a medium sized yellow foam ball on the table.

"What you're going to do is when you get this ball you'll tell us your name, what you do for fun, and something you like."

"Oh! And you don't have to say where you're from because I think everyone here is from Lima. Am I right?" Ms. Pillsbury asked for clarification. Everyone nodded yes, including Brittany. Santana noticed this and wondered how she had not met her before, she was sure she didn't go to her school, she would have noticed her beautiful face in the halls or in class.

"Okay, well I'll start it off. I'm Emma Pillsbury but you all can call me Ms. Pillsbury. I like making pamphlets on different issues for fun and I like grapes." She then looked around the room to pass the ball to someone. She ended up passing it to Puck and he caught it and sighed. Santana guessed he was just as excited as she was to be taking part in this, which was not very much.

"My name's technically Noah, but everyone calls me Puck and I'd like to keep it that way. I play guitar for fun and hmm, what do I like?" He paused to think of something as he tapped his chin with his index finger. His face brightened. "Oh, I know! I like girls."

Santana scoffed at his answer and wanted to wipe that ridiculous grin off his face. The ball was now heading for her. _Of course he would pass it to her_.

"I'm Santana, I like to shop and I like - ," she stopped as her eyes landed on Brittany and she got distracted. _Come on Santana, you've done these things a million times, just think of something!_

"I um, I like…my hoodie." She pulled the fabric on the outside of her jacket to show that's the one she was talking about. She felt her cheeks heat up because of her lame answer. Now she just needed to pass the ball to someone else. Her thoughts went straight to Brittany but she paused. _No, she couldn't put her on the spot this soon. _ So she ended up scooting the ball over to Quinn, which wasn't very far considering she was right next to Santana.

Quinn cleared her throat and said with confidence, "I'm Quinn, I like to paint and I like movies." She then passed the ball along to Rachel. _Oh here we go_.

"Hi everyone, my name is Rachel Berry, I like – no, _love _to sing, it's my passion. It's more than just what I do for fun. Oh, and also I like many different musicals."

The yellow ball rolled over in Brittany's direction and the blonde picked it up. A glint of fear flashed in the blue eyes as they looked across the room to her own. Santana tipped her head to Brittany to let her know it was okay. _Come on, you can do it Brittany. _Santana tried to encourage the girl_, _even if it was in her head.

"I um, I'm Brittany and I uh, like to dance and I like…unicorns."

Santana smiled, Brittany had done it and she had done it so cutely too. It wasn't long after that though that three of the boys who were all sitting next to each other burst out laughing. Brittany had her head down with flushed cheeks. The Latina glared at each of the boys, burning holes through Sam, Finn, and Puck.

"Unicorns? What the hell? They aren't even real stupid," Puck said, just making the other two laugh harder.

Her temper flared and she clenched her fists, how dare they make fun of Brittany's answer. This was supposed to be a safe environment where they wouldn't be judged. _Pshh, that was a joke. _Everyone was quiet as the boys continued to laugh, even Ms. Pillsbury wasn't doing anything. She was just sitting there with wide eyes. The woman was supposed to be controlling the group. No, Santana wasn't going to stand for this anymore. No one was going to make fun of Brittany for being sweet and innocent; she was going to make sure of it.

"Shut the fuck up _Noah_, what she said was ten times better than yours. Uhhh let's see, I like girls," Santana said, her voice filled with anger and then went deep as she mocked Puck.

Brittany's head lifted up once she had spoken but her head returned to its original position not long after. Santana could see the girl shaking a little, she knew it was probably from her leg.

Puck's narrowed his eyes and looked to Santana. Everyone was quiet now, the laughing had ceased after she confronted them.

"Whatever, I'm surprised you didn't agree with me Lopez. I've heard about the all girls you've slept with," he said and Santana's body tensed. Brittany looked up as she heard that.

"Yeah, didn't think I knew about that did you? Well newsflash the whole school knows." Santana was fuming, she was about to smack him. "And what about _your_ answer? I bet you like that hoodie so much because it hides your scars." Puck had an evil smirk on his face.

That was it; she had been pushed too many times. First it was Brittany he insulted, now her. She had had enough. Santana stood up from her spot so fast that her chair went flying back, and crashed to the floor. She moved so fast over to the boy's spot that it took a second for everyone to realize she was over there and that she now had the boy in a choke hold.

Sam, Finn, Quinn, and Rachel jumped up and were all trying to pull her off him but her grip around his neck was too strong. Ms. Pillsbury, Kurt, Tina, and Mercedes screamed and ran out to get help. Brittany just stood near her seat, a shocked expression written all over face with wide, scared eyes and a hand covering her open mouth.

"Take it back you mother fucker! Say you're sorry! NOW!" Santana grunted out. She tried to keep her tight hold around Puck's neck, but it was becoming more difficult now that everyone was trying to get her away from him.

"Santana, come on! He's not worth it! Just let him go," Quinn pleaded to Santana with everything she had.

"Let him go, you crazy bitch!" Sam also yelled to the Latina over the commotion.

Santana ignored them, all their voices sounding far away. "SAY IT! First to Brittany, then to me!" She could feel Puck's nails digging through her jacket sleeve, scraping the skin on her arm that was around his neck. It hurt, but she didn't care, she was used to the pain. She heard a noise come from his throat that sounded like a half choke half cough.

She felt sweat forming on her temples as she struggled to keep her grip. Before she knew it, she was being ripped off of Puck and was carried away by a huge man in blue scrubs and was already halfway across the room. She twisted and turned trying to get away, her hair flying everywhere, some of it sticking to her sweaty neck. The man tightened his arms around her and kept moving her towards the door. Before she left though, she caught a glimpse of Brittany's worried blue eyes staring at her.

A second later she was out the door and she knew she was being taken to her room. She fought the whole time and as they passed the common room, she saw a nurse following them with a syringe along with a group of people also in blue scrubs.

"NO! I'll calm down, I swear! Please!" She stopped her fighting to try to prove that she would settle down. No one listened to her though as she was now on her bed in her room. They rolled her over on her stomach, she stopped moving as she knew what was about to happen. She didn't want to get stabbed the wrong way or some shit like that. She felt the top of her shorts and underwear being pulled down a little and then felt a sting in her butt.

She immediately relaxed and heard everyone shuffle out of her room, closing her door behind them. Sleep was overtaking her. She closed her eyes and the last thing that crossed her mind before falling asleep was a pair of concerned blue eyes.

* * *

Brittany stood there frozen to her spot; she couldn't believe what had just happened. Puck was rubbing his neck and panting for air and coughing. Everyone else seemed to be staring at her. She couldn't take it. "I - I'm sorry," she said as her voice cracked and she ran out of the room towards her own room. Warm droplets were now flowing down her face, she felt like this was all her fault. If she hadn't said such a stupid answer, they wouldn't have laughed at her and Santana wouldn't have gotten so upset.

She got to her room and looked across the hall. All she wanted to do was see Santana and be with her. Brittany wanted to thank her for defending her but most importantly wanted to see if the dark haired girl was okay. She saw that the door was closed though and knew that they had probably injected the girl with something, just like they had done to her last night. The droplets turned into streams, knowing that it would be a while before she saw Santana again. _So much for being her mentor today_. Brittany walked into her room, shut the door and curled up on her uncomfortable bed, letting herself go.

She really wanted to go home now; she didn't even know _why _she was here. She hoped her mom or someone would come visit her today and explain everything. God, how she missed her family. Especially her mom, they were close to each other and she couldn't imagine why she would leave her in this place.

Brittany heard a knock at her door and a voice that said, "Brittany, it's me Ms. Pillsbury. Can I come in and talk to you?"

She got up to open the door, letting out a sigh. The small red haired woman was standing there when she did. Brittany didn't even bother to say anything and went to go sit on her bed. The counselor followed her and sat on the other end of the bed.

"First off, I am so sorry for what happened in there. I should have said or done something before things got the way they did. It just all happened so fast and spiraled out of control. Again, I am so sorry for that," Emma said guilt evident in her voice.

Brittany just sat there staring at her hands and nodded her acknowledgement of the apology. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged and looked up to the woman's face. "I guess."

"Do you want to talk about anything?" This was the counselor's area of expertise.

Brittany shook her head. "No, I'm okay." It wasn't easy for her to open up to people. It took her three or four sessions before she could trust her own therapist.

"Okay, well I'm going to talk to Noah also. I want him to know that what he did was wrong and that he needs to take responsibility for what he said to you and Santana. I'll also need to speak to Santana, but I don't think she'll be awake while I'm still here. So that will have to wait for another day." Ms. Pillsbury got up to leave.

Before she left she turned around. "If you need anything Brittany, just let me or one of the staff know, okay?"

"Okay." Brittany nodded. Ms. Pillsbury left and she sighed, leaning against her one flat pillow, closing her eyes. After a couple of minutes she heard another knock on her half opened door. She opened her eyes to see Rachel and Quinn standing there.

"Hi, we came to talk to you and see if you were okay," Quinn said as she still stood in the doorway. Brittany sighed once again. She was tired of being around people; she just wanted to be alone for a little while. She appreciated that the girls cared though.

"Oh okay, you guys can come in if you want." She waved them over. They walked into the room and took their seats on the bed also, considering it was the only place to sit other than the floor.

"How are you doing?" Rachel asked with a concerned look on her face.

"I'm okay I guess. I just….I feel like this is all my fault." Brittany didn't know why she was opening up to them. For some reason she felt comfortable around them. She felt the lump in her throat come back but held back her tears.

Quinn shook her head. "No, Brittany, this is not your fault. If anything, this is Puck's fault but he and Santana were both in the wrong when they took things too far." Rachel nodded, agreeing with Quinn.

"I didn't even think she would have been capable of doing something like that." Brittany had a distant look in her eye as the scene replayed in her mind. It all happened so fast.

"Well, Santana can get pretty…protective of the people she cares about. You're right though, I've never seen her take things that far." Quinn shook her head with wide eyes.

"I think we were all shocked," Rachel had a removed look that mirrored Brittany's.

Brittany thought about what Quinn said. '_The people she cares about_,' Santana cared about her? Why? They had just met hours ago.

"How long have you all known her?" Brittany's eyes focused back to the present. They talked like they had known her forever. She didn't think people stayed in hospitals for verylong.

"We all go to the same school, so we all sort of knew each other before coming here," Quinn explained to her.

Brittany nodded, that made sense. "What school do you all go to?" She had not seen any of these people in her school.

"William McKinley, do you go there? I haven't seen you around." Rachel hoped that if she did she could recruit another member for the glee club.

Brittany shook her head. "No, I go to North Lima."

"Ah, well that would explain it," Rachel said in a disappointed tone.

They fell quiet and something crossed Brittany's mind. "So Santana and Puck already knew each other from school?" She had to know what the deal was between them.

"Yeah, they actually used to be friends. It's hard to imagine now, but they were actually pretty close. That's how he knew those things about Santana. They had some sort of falling out a couple years ago though and haven't been on good terms since then," Quinn explained the best she could. She was the closest to Santana but she was never able to get the girl to talk about what happened between her and Puck.

"So those things he said….they're true?" Brittany was afraid of the answer.

Quinn and Rachel shared an unsure look. "Might as well tell her, it's already out," Rachel said.

Quinn turned her head back to look at Brittany and said in a soft voice, "Yes, they're true."

Brittany nodded as she felt a swirl of emotions go through her. She felt encouraged because now she knew that Santana was actually interested in girls but felt intimidated that she had slept with so many of them, as Puck had put it. Lastly, she could feel her heart hurt from knowing that Santana had harmed herself, she figured multiple of times since Puck had referred to the scars in a plural form.

Brittany had to admit that the thought had crossed her mind about doing something like that since her depression had started. She never considered it in a serious way though and even if she did, she didn't think she could bring herself to go through with it. The blonde had been diagnosed with depression a couple months ago in August, the beginning of her senior year in high school. She felt frustrated that it had come at such a time but couldn't help that she felt severely down every day. She didn't want to do anything, nothing seemed interesting anymore. Even dancing couldn't bring her out of her miserable state. All she wanted to do was sit in front of the television and stare at it, so it just looked like she was watching it.

Her mother had noticed all of this and confronted her saying that Brittany needed to get some help. She said she wanted her old Brittany back and that she would do anything to help her baby girl. After her mother had told her that, it was like a life preserver was given to her in the middle of a deep ocean. She had never thought about going to see a doctor for how she was feeling, she didn't even know they treated that kind of thing. Her mom went with her to her first appointment and they got her started on a medication and the doctor also suggested she go see a therapist. Brittany was hesitant to this idea but the doctor assured her that it would help her cope with her feelings.

She agreed to go but was nervous about it; she didn't know how she was going to talk to a stranger for a whole hour. The first session though she immediately liked her therapist who liked referred to herself as a counselor instead. She was easy to talk to and was very understanding. She told Brittany that she had struggled with depression also and knew how she felt. After a few sessions she became more comfortable around her and felt like she could share anything with her. She missed the counselor a lot right now; she wanted to talk to her about everything that was going on.

Brittany was brought out of her thoughts as she heard a loud voice from the hall call out, "Lunch is here everyone!"

The three girls stood up to leave but Brittany paused. The other girls turned around to see why Brittany stopped. She was worried about seeing Puck again. It must have shown on her face because Quinn said, "It's okay, they sent Puck to his room and won't let him out until much later."

"Oh, okay." Brittany was glad that she wouldn't have to face the boy just yet. She walked forward again as the three of them went to get their lunch with everyone but Santana and Puck.


	4. Chapter 4

Everyone sat in the room they had just been in where the infamous scene took place and were all eating their respective lunches, not a word being spoken. Brittany felt nervous and awkward at the same time; you could cut the tension in the air with a knife. She felt her leg start to shake; it was a nervous habit that had gotten worse when her depression started.

Kurt dropped his plastic spork on his tray. "Okay, I'm going to address the elephant in the room since no one else is stepping up."

Brittany looked around the room, what was he talking about? There was no elephant in the room; she doubted one could even fit in here. Unless it was a baby elephant, they were always so cute. Quinn leaned over and whispered, "It's just a figure of speech."

"Oh," Brittany whispered. She felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

"Look, Brittany, we all talked about what happened earlier and we just wanted to issue a collective apology. We're so sorry about that incident, especially since it's your first day and all. This kind of stuff rarely happens and we don't want you to be scared for the rest of the time that you're here," Kurt said in a very sincere and sweet tone.

"Thanks, um, sorry, I don't know your name."

"Oh, I'm sorry! Silly me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Kurt." He flashed a smile.

"And I'm Mercedes, I think we're the only two you haven't met yet." The girl extended a hand to shake the blonde's.

"Oh okay, well it's nice to meet you both." She shook Mercedes' hand and then took a bite of her macaroni and cheese, returning to her lunch.

Kurt cleared his throat and shot a look to Finn and Sam. Finn looked up. "Oh, yeah! Um, Brittany, Sam and I also wanted to say sorry. We didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything by laughing. It was just an unexpected thing for someone to say."

Sam spoke up and said, "Yeah, and we're sorry for what Puck said too. We'll make sure to talk to him about that."

Kurt nodded in approval, proud of the boys for being gentlemen. Brittany swallowed her food and nodded her head. "Thanks guys, I appreciate it."

"No problem," both of the boys said almost in unison, but slightly off.

The group fell into easy conversation as they talked about a wide range of things. From what movies were out to what kind of food they were going to get once they were out of the hospital. Everyone agreed that the hospital food was pretty bad. There was a reason why most people in society cringed at the thought of hospital food. Brittany had received milk on her tray once again and frowned when she remembered that Santana wasn't there to give her the extra drink she always ordered. She opened the carton and peered in; at least it was chocolate milk and would maybe be a little more enjoyable. She only drank it when she got really thirsty and just _had _to have something.

Everyone finished up their lunches and returned the trays to the cart as always. Then they went in different directions as they did their own things. Brittany didn't know what to do. Before, she was with Santana and they had hung out pretty much the whole time. She walked down the hall into the common room and saw Quinn and Rachel sitting there watching whatever was on the television. She guessed she would join them, it was better than sitting in her room alone.

"Hey guys, can I join?"

The two girls looked over to her. Rachel's face lit up and said, "Yes, of course you can! Quinn, scoot over so she can sit with us."

Quinn did as told and created more space next to her for Brittany. There was already enough space for her on the couch before Quinn even moved. Now there was more than enough space and she wondered to herself why Rachel wanted Quinn to scoot so close to her as their sides were now touching each other. _Okay, that's strange. _She sat down on the couch and pulled her legs up, sitting Indian style, which all the new space allowed her to do so.

They sat in silence for a little while, watching the national news on the television. Brittany was finding the day go by very slow. She didn't even know what time it was since there were no clocks around.

"Is it always this boring around here?" she asked the other girls.

They both chuckled and Quinn said, "No, it's because it's the weekend. Usually we have more activities to do like school time, arts and crafts, music, and different stuff. Most people don't work on the weekends though, so we only have a limited number of things to do."

"Oh okay, that makes sense I guess," Brittany nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"Yeah, we'll go downstairs to the gym later to exercise, but that's about it for today. Other than visiting hours but that isn't until late this afternoon before dinner." Quinn wished that there was something to do also.

"There's a downstairs?" she asked surprised but figured she probably should have known that since they were on the third or fourth floor.

"Yep! There's some exercise equipment and then a huge gym with a volleyball net and some basketball hoops. We all take turns on the equipment and then go into the gym to do whatever we please," Rachel said in an excited tone with a huge grin.

"You'll have to excuse her; going to the gym is her favorite. Besides going to music of course," Quinn explained Rachel's enthusiasm.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I am _not _going to disrupt my daily exercise routine and slack off just because I'm in this place."

Brittany let out a laugh. "No, I totally understand. I love to dance and if I don't dance almost every day, I get a little stir crazy."

Rachel's face lit up as her eyes widened and her mouth formed an oval shape. She moved to the edge of the couch and looked over to Brittany to get a clear view of her.

"You shouldn't have said that," Quinn said in a sing songy voice and looked up to the ceiling.

Apparently Rachel had ignored Quinn. "Ohh my God! I _finally _found someone! You _have _to join our glee club. We practice almost every day and we've been needing a dancer ever since Sarah left."

Brittany looked down. "Oh, well…."

"If you're nervous about it, don't worry. We don't perform for anyone other than the staff, so we basically just do it for fun. Mainly because we can't go anywhere, but that's besides the point," Rachel said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"It's not that, it's just that I don't think I'll be here very long. I'm probably going to leave today if my mom comes. I would so join though if I could."

Quinn and Rachel shared a look with each other and Rachel said disappointed, "Oh, okay then." The singer then sat back in her seat and returned her gaze to the TV.

_Why did everyone act like that when she said she was leaving soon?_ That was the second time she had told someone and she got the same weird reaction that Santana had given her. Although Santana's had seemed more sad for some reason. _Oh well, maybe Rachel was just disappointed that she couldn't join her glee club. _

They sat in the common room, sometimes talking, sometimes silent as they watched the TV for another hour. Then the tech called out that it was time to go downstairs to the gym. The girls got up to go but Brittany stopped. "Wait, we're wearing these clothes to work out in?"

"Yeah, unless you have something else," Quinn said, not trying to sound mean but just trying to get her point across.

"Oh, right…" Brittany watched Quinn continue to walk to the door that led downstairs.

"Sorry about that, she can be kind of abrupt sometimes. She doesn't mean to be rude." Rachel patted Brittany on the back gently.

"It's okay." She gave the brunette a small smile.

"Come on; let's go get our work out on!" Rachel pulled on the blonde's arm towards the door. They walked through a door that was near the room where they had their meals and group activities in and walked down some stairs to the gym.

"Girls, you're late!" a tall woman with short blonde hair said to them.

"Coach, we're the first ones even here." Quinn looked around to prove her point.

"Well on my watch you're _all_ late. Now get crackin'."

Quinn rolled her eyes as the three girls moved towards the workout machines.

As Brittany passed the woman she stopped as she heard her say, "Wait a minute tall blondie. We haven't met yet. Do you have _any _manners? Introduce yourself."

"Um, I'm Brittany, this is my first day." She held out a hand to shake.

The coach ignored the offered hand and said, "You'd look good on my cheerios squad, what school do you go to?"

"North Lima." Brittany didn't even knowing what a cheerios squad was.

"Figures, I would have had you on my squad by now if you went to McKinley. Well this was a waste of my time." The woman wrote something down on her clipboard.

Brittany just stood there, not sure if the conversation was over or not.

The strange woman looked up from the notes she was writing. "Well what are you waiting for? Exercise!"

Brittany scurried off and tried to find a machine to work out on as everyone was now there. She found a stationary bike and had to lift the seat up so her legs could stretch out when she pedaled. Everyone switched machines when the coach yelled at them to rotate and after a while they were finished. Or so she thought. They were then made to run laps around the large gym in the next room. Everyone was panting and worn out by the time they were done. The woman then yelled at them to do whatever they wanted in the gym and then muttered something about her cheerios being better than all of them.

They all decided to play volleyball, or attempt to play. Brittany had fun as they all laughed at how bad they were. Nobody was even keeping score; they were just enjoying the game to pass the time. After a while the woman blew her whistle and yelled for all of them to get out.

Once Brittany, Rachel, and Quinn got to the common room they stopped and Quinn asked, "Well what should we do now guys?"

Brittany was exhausted. She had been tired all day from what was left over from whatever they gave to her last night and now she was even more tired from the work out.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go take a shower and sleep for a little while." She tried to stifle a yawn at the thought of going to sleep.

"Okay, we'll see you later Brittany," Rachel said and was maybe a little too happy as she pulled Quinn into the direction of a room.

"Bye," Brittany mumbled as the girls were already halfway across the room, giggling as they went in their own room and shut the door.

Brittany tilted her head to the side at the sight. _Something was definitely going on between them. _She shrugged and walked to her room. She paused when she got there to look over to Santana's room. Brittany noticed the door was still shut and sighed as she turned to go into her own room. She missed being around Santana and she didn't even know her well. There was just something about her that was so mysterious and alluring. She wanted to see her beautiful face again and wanted to get to know her better.

She tried to shake off the thoughts about Santana as she went into the bathroom and found some towels that someone had left her. She took a quick shower considering there was not much to do since she didn't have any soap or anything. When she finished, she got out and dried herself off and slipped her clothes back on. Brittany sighed, she would love some fresh clothes, but there was nothing she could do about that now. So she went over to her bed and lied down under the thin blanket, trying to rest her head in a comfortable position on the one pillow that they provided.

It wasn't long until she fell into a deep sleep. Before she did though, she wished that she could go home and also wished that the dark haired girl across the hall would wake up soon.

* * *

Brittany's eyes fluttered open as she heard a knock on her door and saw a figure step through the doorway into her room. As her eyes adjusted from the deep sleep she was in, she shot up in bed. "Mom, you're here!"

"Well of course I am, I wouldn't miss the opportunity to come see you." The woman continued to walk into the room.

She clambered out of her bed to give her mom a big hug. "I've missed you so much Mom." Brittany's voice cracked a little and she hugged her mother tight.

"I've missed you too sweetie. How's my baby girl doing?" Mrs. Pierce released her daughter from the hug to get a good look at her.

"I'm okay, I guess. I just don't know why I'm here. Why would you leave me here with all of these people Mom?" Brittany asked in a desperate voice. She needed some answers right now.

She saw her mother's eyes start to glisten with tears. "Why don't we go sit on your bed?"

Brittany nodded and sat on her bed near her pillow as her mom took a seat across from her. "Brittany, do you remember anything from Saturday?"

She shook her head. "No, not really."

Her mother nodded her head thoughtfully. "Brittany, you were saying very….strange things yesterday. You kept talking about the FBI and how you thought you were going to jail for something. You even went so far as to say that you're dad was in the FBI and he had been hiding it from us….is any of this coming back to you?"

It was, she was remembering what happened in small separate scenes, like from a movie and all the clips didn't connect or make sense. She could also feel the paranoia that ran through her and the accusations that she made, it was all coming back to her now.

Brittany remembered not sleeping at all the night before and her mom giving her wary looks and trying to feed her but she wasn't hungry. She would pick at the food, trying to eat it but would then push it away, not wanting it.

The next scene was her in the car with her mom and dad later in the afternoon. She kept asking where they were going and her mom would reply, "_We're just going to see some doctors Brittany. It's all going to be okay."_

She eyed her mom suspiciously and soon enough they were in the emergency room, where they were taken back right after they sat down. She didn't trust the nurses, the doctor or anyone else that came in and she answered all their questions with non answers. If they asked her how she was feeling, which they did a lot of, she would simply reply with, "_Fine._"

They must have decided that she needed to be admitted because next she was being strapped into a stretcher. She felt nervous and scared but didn't want anyone to know. Her hands and legs probably gave her away though as they were shaking. She remembered being rolled out into the hallway, where everyone's eyes stared at her and then into an elevator where they went up a couple of floors. They then exited the elevator and went through some double doors, where she was soon in front of a group of teenagers all watching something on the TV. Or they were, until she came in. They were all staring at her but she could only remember one set of dark concerned eyes in particular. The girl's eyes matched her long flowing black hair.

_Oh God, Santana! _Their minute conversation came back to her as she remembered the girl whispering a warning to her about the pill the nurse offered her and the injection she later got. _She must think she's crazy_, she thought as she remembered what her reply to Santana was. Even worse was she had just reinforced everything that morning, asking if Santana herself was in the FBI. She guessed all her doubts just slipped away as Santana's warm pinky linked with hers and she had promised Brittany that no one was indeed in the FBI. It was so easy to put her trust in her and her paranoia faded from her mind.

She was brought out of her thoughts as she heard her mother ask, "Are you okay sweetie?"

Brittany rested her elbow on her leg, pinching the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed. "Oh God, what was wrong with me Mom?"

"It's okay Brittany, you couldn't help it. The doctors we've talked to think that it was the medicine you were taking. Well they think it's a combination of things actually. The stress, lack of sleep, and the medication just drove you to a breaking point," Mrs. Pierce explained the doctor's theory the best she could.

She nodded; she _was _under a lot of stress. She had college applications to fill out with it being senior year, tons of homework, a dance performance coming up during homecoming week, and on top of all of that, her dad had lost his job. His job was their sole source of income. As she thought of all of this she looked up with wide eyes. She had to get home _now_. She needed to help out her family by finding a part time job, she had homework she hadn't finished, and homecoming week started tomorrow which meant her performance was coming up soon. The dance team had featured her front and center and she didn't want to miss out on her time to shine.

"You're here to take me home right?" Brittany was so sure that the answer would be yes.

Mrs. Pierce looked down to fiddle with her hands and then looked back up. "Brittany, I think it's best that you stay here for a while so the doctors can observe you and make sure you're healthy again."

Panic ran through Brittany and she said with her voice cracking, "No, Mom, I have so much to do! You can't leave me here! Please!"

"I'm so sorry Brittany, but I have to. You've been under so much stress lately and you need to take a break from everything. They can really help you here sweetie," her mother said with a passionate and sincere look, trying to get her daughter to understand.

Brittany shook her head and started to cry. "I don't want to stay here! I miss you, Dad, and Claire so much!"

"I know, I know. You're going to have to stay here for just a few days though. It will be tough but I know you can do it. You're my strong baby girl." Mrs. Pierce patted Brittany's leg, trying to comfort her.

She started to cry harder as she heard her mother's words. "A few _days_? I can't be here for that long! I have so much to do!"

"That's why you need to stay, you need to take your mind off things and just relax the best that you can," her mom said in a sweet mothering tone.

Brittany dropped her head in defeat and just nodded, her tears backing off. Mrs. Pierce noticed the change in her daughter's demeanor. "I brought a lot of things from home to make you feel more comfortable here. I brought some blankets, way too many clothes, and you know who."

Her head snapped up at this. "Mr. Sparklekins?"

Mrs. Pierce nodded her head with a smile. "Yep, I had to leave everything with the staff because they had to look through everything but they said they would give it to you as soon as they're finished."

"Okay." Brittany smiled the slightest bit. She loved Mr. Sparklekins and didn't know how she ever fell asleep without him last night. Well, she probably did know, it might have something to do with whatever they gave her last night, just like what they did to Santana.

_Santana. She was a plus of having to stay here, maybe now she'll get to know her better._

"Well, I need to get going. I haven't even started on dinner yet." They both stood up to give each other a hug goodbye.

"I love you Mom." She wrapped her arms around the older woman.

"I love you too and don't forget that you're my _strong _baby girl. I know that you can get through this Brittany, I believe in you." Mrs. Pierce released her daughter from the hug.

Brittany nodded and felt a new wave of tears spring to her eyes as she heard her mother's sincere words. She watched as she crossed the room and opened the door wider to leave. "Bye mom." She waved her hand back and forth a little to wave to her.

"Bye sweetie, I'll see you tomorrow." Her mother then left, closing the door behind her.

Brittany sank down on to her bed and just stared at the door. Her shoulders shook and her face contorted as she violently sobbed at the thought of her family sitting around the dinner table without her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hope y'all like the new chapter and once again, reviews are very appreciated! ;)**

* * *

Opening her eyes, Santana could see the late afternoon sun shining through the windows, giving the room a golden tint. She turned over on to her back and stared up at the ceiling. She felt groggy and her body was weak, she just wanted to go back to sleep but knew she wouldn't sleep that night if she didn't get up.

Sitting up, she ran her hand through her dark tresses and looked around her. She had fallen asleep on top of the blanket and still had her flip flops on from earlier along with her outfit. Santana sighed, eased out of the bed and stumbled over to the bathroom.

_Ugh, she looked horrible_. She looked into the mirror and tried to fix the tangled mess in her hair. Satisfied with how she looked considering everything, she walked back out towards the door. She paused half step, she wasn't sure if she was even allowed out of her room yet. Opening the door, she peered outside and saw some of the other patients were with their parents.

_What a great time to wake up. _Santana hated visiting hours because she usually found herself alone as most of everyone else had people who cared for them checking up on them. She had come to accept it though and used the time alone to think about things and clear her head_. _

She went out into the hall and saw that Brittany's door was open. She moved so that she was at an angle where she could sneak a peek into the blonde's room. What she saw broke her heart and she ducked her head back, as she felt like she was intruding. Brittany was sobbing with a reddened face, her blonde hair falling like a curtain around her as her head was down. The woman from last night was sitting across from her and patting her leg gently.

Santana was glad that Brittany had someone to be there and comfort her. She wouldn't have been able to stand it if she knew Brittany was sitting in there and crying alone. Hoping the music room was empty; she moved towards it and found that it was indeed vacant. She went in, flopped down in the chair and let out a big sigh.

Her mind wandered as she thought about everything that went on that day. _Oh God. _Panic shot through her. She hoped Brittany wasn't crying because of how she had pretty much turned into the incredible hulk earlier. She would feel awful if she was the reason the blonde was crying.

_She hoped she didn't scare her off; Brittany looked so worried and scared when they pulled her out of there. _She couldn't help the way she reacted though, something had just snapped in her and she couldn't hold back any longer.

There were so many things combined together that had put her so close to the edge and it didn't take much to push her off. First it was the three idiots insulting Brittany by laughing at what she said and Puck just making it worse by opening his damn mouth.

Then it was Puck himself. He had been getting on her nerves ever since he had gotten to the hospital. Maybe even before then, having to see his face around school and all. He knew how to push her buttons from their history they had with each other and he had done just that earlier in the day. That brought her to the last thing that made her lose it, Puck revealing her personal issues to everyone, or more importantly, _Brittany_. She didn't care that everyone found out; Quinn and Rachel already knew anyways. She wasn't ready for that information to get to Brittany yet though. She was trying to impress the girl after all and he went and paraded her secrets around like they were nothing.

It wasn't fair. She wanted to tell Brittany those things on her own time, if they were even going to become close friends later on. That was just one more thing that Puck had taken away from her. She really hoped Brittany would still want to be around her after everything that had happened.

Santana heard a knock on the door and turned around thinking that it was probably a tech that was going to tell her to go back to her room. She was oh so wrong though as she saw the beautiful blonde that had been occupying her thoughts since the night before.

* * *

Brittany's tears started to slow down and she took some deep breaths to pull herself together. She went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water over her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Beads of water were running down her skin which was now slightly red from the crying and coldness of the water.

_Come on Brittany, get a hold of yourself. It's just for a few days and most of the people here are really nice. Just a few days…_something in her told her it was going to be longer than that though as she picked up her towel and dried her face off. She would just have to accept that she was going to be staying here and she needed to make the best of it.

Letting out a small sigh, she turned off the bathroom light and walked back into her room. There was nothing to do in her room that was for sure, so she decided to go outside to see what everyone else was doing. It looked like everyone was with whoever was visiting them still. That's when she noticed Santana's door was now open and her heart leaped in her chest.

She took a small step inside the other room and knocked to see that the bed was empty. _Where was she? _Some unknown pull guided her feet to the end of the hall to the music room. She looked through the glass door and sure enough saw Santana sitting in a chair alone. Her long dark hair flowed down her back and Brittany wondered what it would feel like to run her fingers through it. Santana had her legs pulled up against her chest and had her arms wrapped around them, looking out the window with a blank stare.

_What if Santana just wanted to be alone right now? _Brittany shook her head. She really wanted to be with her again, so she couldn't help but knock softly on the door. She had missed Santana even if it was only hours ago that she last saw her.

Santana turned her head at the sound and Brittany saw a cold look on her face that changed not even a second later as she saw recognition run through the brown eyes. A small smile graced her face and Brittany took that as an invitation to come in. She walked in and took a seat next to the brunette. She could feel her eyes on her the whole time and when she sat down, she looked over to connect with chocolate ones. When she did, Santana averted her gaze and looked down to the floor.

"I'm sorry," Santana rasped out.

Brittany frowned as she heard this. "For what?"

The brunette shook her head. "For screwing up. I was supposed to help you out on your first day and I let him get the best of me. I'm sorry, I should have kept my emotions under control but it's just when he said those things - ,"

"It's okay Santana, I understand. He shouldn't have thrown those things out about you." Brittany saw a distant look come back to brown eyes.

"I know, but still. I wanted to be with you and help you today," Santana said in a sad tone.

Brittany couldn't help but smile a little as her heart fluttered. _She wanted to be with me._ "Well Quinn and Rachel kind of stepped up and filled in for you. So it's all good." Even though Brittany wished it had been Santana with her today.

Santana smiled a little. "That sounds like something they would do. Sorry you had to be around Berry for so long."

"She's not that bad, she may be a little….um, _passionate _about things but she's really nice."

Santana scoffed. "A little?"

"Okay, maybe she's _really _passionate about things but she's genuinely nice. I think you need to give her a break." Brittany nudged Santana with her elbow.

"Yeah, yeah," the dark haired girl muttered.

Brittany smiled at the other girl's attitude, she found it cute how stubborn she was being. Actually, it seemed that Santana was quite passionate about some things herself as she remembered the scene from earlier. As it replayed in her mind she was reminded of something the Latina had said.

"Santana, I um, I wanted to thank you for what you did earlier. I know what Puck said to you personally is what set you off but I heard you yell at him to apologize to me. Even though you might have taken things too far, I appreciate that you stuck up for me. I've never had anyone do that for me."

Santana looked over to her with an intense gaze. "You're welcome, I mean it was no big deal. I still feel bad about what I did though. Not for Puck but for you. I promised right before we went in that everything would be okay and we both know how that turned out."

There was a long pause as they both remembered how the whole thing had ended until Brittany decided to speak up. "Well, everything's okay now. So actually you _did _keep your promise." She then gave the brunette a small smile.

A slight chuckle escaped past Santana's lips. "Maybe so, since you put it like that."

They fell into a comfortable silence just sitting together and looking over Lima as the sun dropped lower and lower. This was a nice change for Brittany. Usually she felt like she had to bring up a conversation to fill the unbearable silence with other people. She found herself thinking about the eventful day though and her thoughts landed on the workout she had earlier.

"Santana, what's a cheerios squad?" Brittany asked out of the blue, not even caring that it was random. She knew Santana probably wouldn't care.

The Latina let out a full laugh. "I'm guessing you met Coach Sue today."

"I don't know. I just remember her saying she wanted me on her cheerios."

Santana nodded her head. "Yep, that's her. Tall, short hair, track suit?"

Brittany just nodded her head and looked at the brunette; she seemed to be quite familiar with the woman.

"Her name's Sue Sylvester, she's the coach of my school's cheerleading squad, which is called the cheerios," Santana explained.

"Ohh okay, but why was she here then?"

"Well, she likes to think she's doing some good in the world by helping kids in the hospital but by the way she still bullies us, I think she's also in it for some extra cash." Santana rubbed her thumb against her other four fingers in the air to gesture receiving money.

"I gotcha, how do you know so much about her?"

The brunette let out a small sarcastic laugh. "Everyone at McKinley knows about Sue, she torments everyone, even her precious cheerios. I would know, I was one of them."

Brittany turned half way towards Santana in surprise. "You? Really?"

Santana nodded. "Yep, I was a cheerio up until half way through junior year." As she finished what she was saying, a distant look appeared in the brown eyes with a serious expression to match. It was apparent something had happened, as to what it was, she had no clue. She wanted to grow closer to Santana so bad, she wanted to know the things that happened in her life that seemed to haunt her so. More important than just _knowing _what happened, Brittany wanted to help the girl heal and move on.

She had never felt this way about someone. Never had she found someone so intriguing and attractive. It almost scared her, _almost_. There was a comforting feeling she got when she was around Santana that made her not worry about how she was feeling these things so intensely and so soon. She made it feel right somehow, like she was meant to feel this way.

Brittany wanted to ask why she stopped being a cheerleader, what _made_ her stop being one, but she didn't want to push Santana into something she wasn't ready to reveal yet. Enough had already been revealed about her today anyways and that was yet another thing she wanted to know the story behind. It would just have to wait for another time though.

They both heard a knock on the door and turned around to see none other than Puck, opening the door to step inside. Santana snapped her head back towards the window with a cold expression on her face.

Brittany turned her attention back to Puck when she heard him clear his throat. "Santana, Brittany, I just wanted to come in here and apologize to both of you. Things got way out of hand and I know I'm the one mainly responsible for it. Brittany, I'm really sorry for the comment I said about your answer. Unicorns are actually pretty cool and I would have never thought of something so….unique like that to say."

She felt a small smile tug at her lips as she heard the boy's admission. "You're forgiven, but you might want to tell Mr. Sparklekins your sorry too, because they _are_ real you know."

Puck chuckled, stuffing his hands in his jean pockets. "Will do."

Brittany looked over to Santana and saw that she was not amused. She guessed she didn't blame her though; Puck had hurt the brunette more than he had to herself. Puck cleared his throat again. "Um Brittany, do you mind if I talk to Santana alone for a second?"

* * *

As Santana heard this, she turned her head towards the other two and saw Brittany give her a worried look. Santana tipped her head. "It's okay."

Everything in her was screaming for the blonde to stay but she knew what Puck was about to say was probably going to be personal.

"Uh, yeah sure," Brittany mumbled, her light footsteps leaving the room.

Once the door had shut, Puck took the seat that Brittany was just in and leaned his elbows forward on his legs. It was quiet for a while and Santana wondered what the hell he was doing. _She_ definitely wasn't going to start this little talk.

"Santana, I can't even begin to say how sorry I am for what I did earlier. I don't blame you for how you reacted. I don't know what got into me, maybe it's just that I've been cooped up in here for so long or something. Anyways, I just want you to know how sorry I am and I hope that you can forgive me." Puck looked at Santana the whole time during his apology, but she wouldn't turn her head to acknowledge him.

She just sat there after his small speech, staring out the window still. His apology actually sounded sincere and she believed his words. It was almost like her old Puck was back, the Puck that was her best friend before everything that had happened last year. She heard him get up and start walking to the door.

"I'm sorry too." Santana turned her head half way, not even sure if he heard her.

"You – you are?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I shouldn't have reacted that way. I should have had my feelings more under control."

"Well, once again, I don't blame you for what you did. You've got a mean grip there Lopez." Puck cracked a smile as he nudged her.

"Yeah well, that's how we do it in Lima Heights." She let a smile appear also.

Santana heard a tech call out that dinner was there and she got up from her chair to leave. Puck opened his arms out for a hug. "Truce?"

She stepped forward and instead of going in for the hug she offered a hand to shake. "Truce."

Puck took her hand to shake it. "Fair enough. I know I'll have to gain your trust back after all the things I've done."

She nodded her head in agreement and they stepped out of the room to go down the hall. Puck put his arm around her shoulder and when they turned the corner, everyone was waiting for the tech to distribute their food. Everyone just stared at them in disbelief for a second until they started to cheer and clap for them, congratulating them for making up. Puck and Santana smiled and he took his arm away from her shoulders. He held out a closed fist to the Latina, which she in turn bumped it with hers and then walked forward to join the others.

The teens ate their dinner, talking about numerous things and had side conversations at the same time. At one point they joked about how they didn't know Santana was so strong and she just shrugged with a smirk on her face. They all finished eating and walked out of the room to do their own things. Rachel, Quinn, Santana, and Brittany went to the common room to talk and watch TV. It seemed like that was all they did and Santana was getting tired of it, but what else was there to do? If Brittany was there though, it was ten times more interesting just by being in her presence.

A tech walked in from the nurse's station and said, "Miss Pierce, we have a new handicapped patient and he needs your room for the handicapped bathroom. So we're going to move you into Santana's room to be her roommate, is that okay with you?"

Santana choked on her own spit. Quinn and Rachel giggled together at her reaction and she glared at the two. _Oh God, she was going to be rooming with Brittany now? _

"Oh, yeah that's fine," the blonde said like it was no big deal.

"Great, well we just got done going through your things so we'll just put them in Santana's room instead of yours." The tech then walked back into the station to get Brittany's belongings.

Brittany looked over to her with raised eyebrows. "Well I guess were roomies now!"

"Yep, I guess we are." Her voice sounded strange from her choking earlier and Rachel and Quinn just laughed harder. She once again shot them a dirty look.

Three people passed through the room carrying what Santana assumed to be Brittany's stuff and the blonde got up. "Come on San, come help me set up my area."

Brittany tugged on Santana's arm and she smiled at the nickname that Brittany had used, it sounded so cute coming out of her mouth. She was so glad that Brittany still wanted to be around her at all after the events from today. They walked into _their _room now and Santana looked over to the bed on the left, which had all of Brittany's things on it. There were two or three blankets bunched up together, two suitcases, three pillows and one stuffed animal unicorn that looked well loved on.

She looked over to her side of the room, it looked pitiful, the only things she had were her clothes and drawings. Santana held off the pity party though so she could help the blonde set everything up and be in a good mood while doing it.

"Here, you take this bag and I'll take that one. We'll just pull everything out and put it on top of the dresser I guess." Brittany handed the brunette a blue bag.

"Alright, sounds easy enough." She unzipped the bag where she found some clothes neatly folded. Santana carefully took them out and placed them on the dresser. Halfway to the bottom, she came across a framed picture. She picked it up and looked close at it. It was a picture of Brittany and her family; it couldn't have been taken that long ago as she still looked the same. In the picture, Brittany had a tank top and shorts on while the rest of the family had on summer clothes too. It was then that she noticed how flushed her face was and that she had her hair pulled back into a pony tail.

Brittany looked over Santana's shoulder at the picture. "Oh, that was from the day we went to Six Flags over the summer."

Santana looked up, startled by the voice and then felt guilty as she had been caught staring at the photo for so long. "I don't why she sent that picture. She knows I don't like it because I look all sweaty and disgusting." The blonde shook her head.

She frowned when she heard this; she doubted Brittany could ever look disgusting. "I think you look awesome."

Brittany looked down to the floor as a light pink color appeared on pale cheeks. "Thanks."

"No problem," she said, her voice thick with sweetness.

"So I'll just – um, put everything in the dresser." Brittany fumbled with the clothes as she opened a drawer.

"Here, I'll help." Santana picked up some clothes to place in the drawer also. They put away all the clothing and then spread out the blankets on Brittany's bed.

Brittany placed the picture frame on the dresser angling it towards the bed and a warm smile played out on the blonde's lips as she gazed lovingly at the photo. She could see how much her family meant to her by the look of pure adoration in her blue eyes. Santana hoped that maybe, just maybe, one day Brittany would look at_ her_ like that.


End file.
